THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths, probing the rape charge levelled by the solar scam accused and woman entrepreneur against Congress leaders, conducted an inspection at the MLA hostel in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
The CBI team accompanied by the complainant conducted searches at two rooms in the Nila block of the hostel, where Congress MP Hibi Eden had stayed when he was a legislator.
The complainant had alleged that the young Congress leader had raped her in his room in the MLA hostel in 2012. The sources said room numbers 33 and 34 were searched by the CBI as part of evidence collection.
The central agency took over the sexual abuse complaints registered by the woman, who was a kingpin in the infamous solar scam, against six Congress leaders last year after the state government transferred the case to the CBI at the request of the complainant.
The woman had alleged that she was raped by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, Hibi, Adoor Prakash M P, MLA A P Anil Kumar, and former Congress leader and current BJP national vice-president A P Abdullakutty. The state Crime Branch had initially probed the case, but later the CBI took over the investigation.
The complainant had earlier turned up before the CBI sleuths to record her statements. Since its takeover, this is the first time that the CBI has taken a strong step in the case. Justice G Sivarajan Commission too had recommended a detailed probe on the rape allegations levelled by the woman against the Congress leaders.